Don’t you get annoyed when your favourite movie is trying to promote some crappy product via subliminal advertising? Is there a way to block this kind of advertisement? How does subliminal advertising work? Are movies and games going to hide more hidden ads in the near future? The only true answer to this question is “yes”. Unfortunately there is no ad blocker that can block subliminal advertising. But you might be able to block it yourself. How? We’ll teach you! But you have to learn more about subliminal messaging first.
What is subliminal advertising?
The subliminal advertising test
One of the most iconic tests, to prove that subliminal messaging is a real marketing tool that works, is the Lipton experiment. In this experiment there was a test group of around 100 volunteers that all got to watch a short movie of around three minutes. The 100 volunteers where split into a Control group and a Test group. The test group watched a movie clip that included subliminal flashes (10-millisecond flashes) of the word Lipton Iced Tea and the control group watched a clip without any flashes.
The consciousness human mind can’t process a 10-millisecond flash into a real image but the unconsciousness can. After the experiment the participants were asked whether they wanted to drink Lipton Iced tea or a bottle of mineral water. The results are striking and massively obvious since 46% of the test group (which was bombarded with subliminal advertising) choose Lipton Iced Tea and 54% went for the Mineral water. The Control group who did not receive any subliminal messaging flashes choose Mineral Water above Lipton Icea Tea with a result of 64%(water) vs 37%(Lipton). These statistics are showing marginal differences and are speculated even more when you take the standard error into account.
Nevertheless, the sub concussions of the human mind is taking over the subliminal advertising on a small scale and if a multibillion company such as Coca Cola decides to produce this kind of advertising on a global scale you can probably imaging the impact it has on sales! Only a marginal difference of 0,5% increase in sales will result in massive revenues. So how do you get bombarded with subliminal messages?
Hidden shapes and signs in commercials
Sometimes you don’t even notice the obvious signs that the company is implementing into your brains. One of the best examples of subliminal messaging can be seen in the image above of the Pirates of the Caribbean. Ones you see the shape of Mickey Mouse in the iconic skull logo you can never un-see this. The sign is triggering the unconsciousness and manipulates your mind in creating a preference for Disney without you even knowing it. Some marketers are masters in disguise.
Subliminal messaging in Games
You will start noticing subliminal messaging in your favorite games more often when you pay attention. Large brands pay for the spotlights in popular games because they can influence a large crowd with this without them noticing. For example in Sims 3 you can buy in game items from Philips such as toothbrushes, Sonicare, wake up lights and other products. This is a genius way of making advertising on a large (global) scale, simple and effective.
Block subliminal advertising with your mind
Unfortunately we can’t upgrade your mind with a simple browser plugin to block subliminal messaging or advertisements. You will have to train your mind in recognizing hidden advertisements and block them out. This is the only way to see the unseen and protect yourself against subliminal advertisements.
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